BSW Day 5 - The next day

You wake up in your bed at the Lodge with Beth beside you.

It's noisy outside the room, and people sound excited. You groggily get up, wake Beth, and stumble out to see what's up. You overslept, and the coaches are herding the girls downstairs for breakfast.

At breakfast, everyone quiets down at the coaches gather at the front of the room. Everyone stops eating and talking to listen. Something is going on.

Michelle steps forward, apparently the spokesperson.

"So, announcement time. Everyone listening?" she asks.

"Yes," everyone says together.

"OK. Remember how you have all been gossiping about a new league? And how that's our fault, kind of?" She gestures at the other coaches.

"Yes," everyone says.

"About that. There's no new league," she says.

The room explodes with shock and from some girls, outrage.

"What?" You can't believe it. It's all anyone could talk about yesterday...

"Shut up and listen," Michelle says impatiently. "It's not a league. It's a TV show."

She has to wait again while you all freak out.

"But! But! It's not getting produced yet," she goes on. "Seriously, guys. Let me finish. The producers are here to do a trial run. Your coaches and supervising coaches all have the contract, and you will get your chance to look at it and make your decision."

You want to laugh... like anyone is going to NOT want to be on a TV show about soccer. Everyone will sign.

"For this show, we are going to do a scaled down league, which means teams. But it's a show, not a league. That means these people want to see drama. They want rivalries and things like that. You're sorted into teams, and you *stay* with your team. Your team is like your family," Michelle says.

Wait a minute. What are the teams? Who is on which team? You and lots of the other girls start demanding to know, but Michelle shushes everyone.

"We'll post them in a minute. And I know! I know there's romance here at this camp where we are supposed to be concentrating on training," she says, kind of irritatingly. "So this is how it works. On Mondays you train. On Tuesdays, you have a half-day of training and a practice match. On Wednesdays, you do strategy and light training. On Thursdays, a half-day of training and match prep. On Friday, you have a real match against another team. There will be six teams. Three matches. The winning teams get to spend the weekend here at the lodge. The losers have to stay at camp. What happens at the lodge stays at the lodge. This is the only place where you can mingle with other teams. So if you want to mingle, you have to win. If you don't care about mingling and you just care about soccer, you still have to win, because only winners get interviews. That's how this is going to work."

Whoa. That's a lot. But wait... there are a lot of girls at camp, but not enough for six teams.

"Are these just very small teams, then?" Beth pipes up.

"No. Full teams. More girls arrive tomorrow, and a few of the girls from the Swim Camp are going to come up and join. We..." she says, pointing at herself and the other coaches. "Are your subs if there are injuries. Yes, we know there are some girls here who don't have to sit down to pee. Those girls don't have to hide that. No secrets. Any other questions?"

Wow! You can shower with everyone else now? And share a changing room? And yes, there are lots of questions, but you just want to know what team you are on... but you don't get to see that until after you sign a contract, and none of the coaches will let anyone sign a contract that they have not read yet.

Going over the contracts takes most of the morning. You finally get yours signed, and are handed a sheet with the teams on it. You are officially a contestant in the pilot shoot for Football Ultimate Television Association, or FUTA for short.

You check out your team.

PINK TEAM:

1. Riley (USA) Captain, Striker COACH: Tiff

2. ATT Aki (JAP)

3. ATT Lara (UK)

4. MID Sun (KOR)

5. MID Sam (UK)

6. MID Elena (KEN)

7. DEF Rebecca (USA)

8. DEF Sheva (SEN)

9. DEF Lili (MON)

10. DEF Max (USA)

11. GOAL Viti (IND)

"Captain Riley," Beth says, nudging you. "I like a woman in uniform."

"I wish we were on the same team," you say. Beth is on Adella's team...

BLUE TEAM:

1. Adella Captain, Striker (SPN) - COACH: MOTOKO

2. ATT Hana (KOR)

3. ATT Olga (RUS)

4. MID Beth (UK)

5. MID Feng (CHI) Tekken?

6. MID Duni (KEN)

7. DEF Ingrid (SWE)

8. DEF Riona (IRE)

9. DEF Jill (USA)

10. DEF Julieta (FRA)

11. GOAL Miranda (UK)

That is a shame, and it's going to cramp your personal life... but it's still exciting! You and Beth join the other girls, who are freaking out. The morning is chaotic with calls to family and talking to coaches. Only a few girls don't seem happy about it. Lara looks annoyed. Ingrid looks nervous. Aki doesn't seem to approve. Tina looks sad.

But you and Beth are ready to go. The last few days have been amazing, and you are powered up. You have never felt better. Leading a team will be hard, but you are so ready to try... and you are just the captain, not the coach. It's not like everything will be on your shoulders alone, and you have Lara on your team. Lara is a really strong player, maybe as good as you and Adella. Maybe even better.

Beth finds you and tells you that the girls are going to do a celebratory picnic because the weather is so good, unlike yesterday. It's sunny and warm, and the woods are beautiful.

You and Beth join in, carrying baskets out with others. You join Lara, Viti, and Duni and chat about what it will be like to be on TV. You want to look good... you should all go shopping for new clothes. Maybe you can do that tomorrow after training. It seems like the coaches don't want anyone going anywhere tonight. You have not seen the new practice or team uniforms yet, but Michelle promised you that they look good.

You go to a clearing in the woods by the stream and eat sandwiches and drink sodas, high on the idea of becoming stars.

You notice one girl by herself. It's Tina. She looks a bit better than she did this morning, but still not too happy.